Unbelievable.
In one of the most horrifying examples of traffic violence in recent memory, police in Fort Smith, Arkansas discovered a hit-and-run had taken place when someone found a severed leg lying in the street Saturday morning.
They found the rest of the 57-year old victim’s body in the back of a man’s pickup, where it had been since the driver had crashed into his bike around 12 hours earlier.
The driver claimed he didn’t know the victim’s body was there until he got home — and then apparently just went inside and left him there to die once he did.
Graphics by tomexploresla
Which presumably would have given the man plenty of time to sober up before the cops found the body in his truck.
And how anyone could do something like that without being drunk or stoned is beyond me.
The crash is reminiscent of the infamous 2014 case in which a hit-and-run driver drove home with a bike rider embedded in his windshield, and didn’t notice until he came back out the next morning.
Fortunately, that one had a happier ending.
Seriously, there’s not a pit in hell deep enough.
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Bike Talk talks with Streets For All founder Michael Schneider about the organization’s Healthy Streets LA initiative to force Los Angeles to build out the city’s mobility plan when streets get repaved.
That’s followed by a segment with Bike Snob’s Eben Weiss discussing the Idaho Stop Law, which allows bike riders to treat stop signs like yields, and — at least in Idaho’s original version — treat red lights like stop signs.
A version of which was vetoed by California Governor Newsom last year.
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Remember what we said yesterday about the new Taylor Yard Bridge opening next month?
Yeah, not so much.
LA officials say the official opening has been cancelled. No reason or makeup date has been announced.
#ElysianValley Taylor Yard #LARiver bike/walk bridge grand opening will be Saturday March 5! pic.twitter.com/Ah934nhyLu
— StreetsblogLA (@StreetsblogLA) February 17, 2022
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British singer, songwriter and producer James Blunt is one of us.
Born on this day, February 22, 1974:
James Blunt, musician, here riding in aid of wounded and injured military personnel in London, UK, 2013.
Happy #bicyclebirthday, James!#BOTD pic.twitter.com/gWY3kPUSJc— Cool Bike Art (@CoolBikeArt1) February 22, 2022
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
A road-raging British driver walked without a single day behind bars for chasing down and ramming a bike rider who damaged his wing mirror; adding insult to injury, the driver was ordered to pay the equivalent of just $1,359 in compensation, despite totaling the victim’s $9,500 bicycle.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Police in London busted a sexual assault suspect who used a bikeshare bike in the attack, which allowed police to identify him from his credit card.
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Local
Momentum Magazine asks if Los Angeles can shake its anti-bicycling reputation, and seems to conclude, “maybe.”
On a similar note, a graduate student at Northwestern examines LA’s Vision Zero program, saying it brings both hope and skepticism to the city. Which most Los Angeles bike riders can relate to.
State
No surprise here. San Diego’s KPBS says families of traffic violence victims often feel let down by the criminal justice system.
A 32-year old man was injured when he was struck by a driver in Santa Rosa after allegedly riding his bike through a red light while under the influence.
National
A Las Vegas optician may need his own eyes examined, after confessing that he was one of the bike riders charged by a bull captured on a viral video during the recent Rock Cobbler offroad race.
An Ohio mayor is oddly up in arms over a former rival’s donation of a $3,600 police bike to the local police department, as well as giving her late firefighter husband’s rescue gear to the fire department, calling them ethics violations; opponents call the ethics flap just an effort to keep her off the city council.
A paper in Worcester, Massachusetts marks Black History Month by tracing several key sites in the adopted hometown of legendary cyclist Major Taylor, as well as historic locations relating to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, among others.
After a 15-year old boy accidentally ride his bike off a bridge, a Massachusetts cop is credited with his rescue.
New York’s legislature is considering a package of bike and pedestrian safety bills that would give cities more control over speed limits, encourage them to build safer sidewalks and bike lanes, and require drivers to study more safety topics for their license test.
You know you have a problem when two people on bicycles are run down by hit-and-run drivers on the same stretch of a Florida street, the same time of day, just one mile and three days apart. Or when four people have been killed at the same Orlando intersection in four months, the latest victim was a 15-year old boy right-hooked while riding in a crosswalk.
International
Bike Radar’s podcast considers how to make this your best year yet on your bike. That’s easy. 1) Just ride, and 2) just ride more. And don’t take it so damn seriously.
Bike riders debate the relative merits of daytime running lights, after Road.cc reposts a 2015 article about their use.
A writer for Jalopnik says the “Freedom Convoy” that paralyzed Ottawa, Canada in recent weeks shows why cars and trucks should be banned from cities.
Canadian bicyclists are mourning the loss of longtime Toronto bike advocate Robert “Bicycle Bob” Silverman, who fought for bike lanes long before the city had any, and helped set it on its current bike-friendly course; Silverman passed away Sunday at age 88.
Good news on the bike theft front, as reports from more than 40 British police agencies indicate the crime fell over 11% last year.
A delivery rider in the UK says he’s never more than one crash away from financial disaster, after his earnings have dropped almost in half over the past few years.
A self-described die-hard Indian cyclist writes in defense of the humble bicycle, after the country’s prime minister cast aspersions on bikes in attacking another political party that uses one as its symbol; the head of that party calls the prime minister’s comments “an insult to the nation.”
Competitive Cycling
UCI may be ditching Red Bull for coverage of the Mountain Bike World Cup after this season, entering into exclusive negotiations with Discovery Sports.
Colombian cyclist Daniel Martínez calls injured countryman Egan Bernal a champion on and off the bike, as Martínez opens the European campaign with a third-place finish in the Volta ao Algarve.
Dutch pro Tom Dumoulin says he’s happy to be back on the WorldTour after walking away from the sport for several months last year.
Finally…
Go ahead and ride straight, even if the bike path isn’t. And sometimes you have to pedal upstream in life.
Whitewater cycling. pic.twitter.com/Swga3umKQA
— Rich Seipp (@richpips) February 20, 2022
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
HiViz, running lights, Helmets. Just cudgels to beat up a minority group. The real group to beat up are drivers who aren’t paying attention, driving too fast etc.
Prosecute them fully.
AB 1713 reintroduces the opportunity for cyclists to treat stop signs as yields. 18 years rider age is the only change to the original version the Governor vetoed. Here is the link:
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1713